Karina Smirnoff: Why I Posed Nude in Playboy

Karina Smirnoff likes to push things to the limit: Aside from flying around the ballroom on Dancing with the Stars, she enjoys boxing, skydiving and shooting guns.

"I'm fearless and love the adrenaline rush," the dancing pro, 32, tells Playboy, underscoring the point by posing nude in the May issue.

Smirnoff, who this season is paired with leader Ralph Macchio, wears little more than a few red ribbons and a sultry stare as the first Dancing pro to strip down for the magazine.

"Sexy is the confident energy a person produces," she tells Playboy. "Sexy is the comfortable feeling of being who you are."

Credit: PEOPLE (Mike Fleeman)

Karina Smirnoff Not In Trouble Over Playboy

Karina Smirnoff will be the first pro on Dancing with the Stars to pose nude in Playboy, but the news didn't come as a surprise to her bosses.

Despite reports that producers angrily felt she hurt the program's image, a source close to the show says, "They did know ahead of time and they still gave her one of the best pairings."

Smirnoff, 32, is dancing with point leader Ralph Macchio. Her photo shoot was done before the season started and will appear in the May issue of Playboy.

Although no other Dancing pro has posed for the magazine, Smirnoff is not the first from the show to do so.

Co-host Brooke Burke and competitors including Kendra Wilkinson, Lisa Rinna, Pamela Anderson, Holly Madison and Denise Richards have appeared in Playboy.

Credit: PEOPLE (Mike Fleeman)

ABC To Fire Karina Smirnoff Over Playboy?

Following Hugh Hefner's tweet that teased Karina Smirnoff as the May issue cover of Playboy, ABC reportedly is frantic about the kind of attention that "Dancing with the Stars" will get. "If Karina posed naked, she can kiss her dancing days goodbye," a show's insider told PopEater. "I hope for Karina's sake that this isn't true."

"DWTS", despite skimpy clothes and sexy dances, is categorized as family TV. Karina, reportedly has violated the terms of her contract by posing nude for the cover without getting a consent from the show's bosses. "ABC publicity department controls the image of this show with an iron fist. It's a cash cow and they are not going to allow its reputation to be soiled by a dancer who wants to do Playboy," an ABC source said.

In fact, the execs have applied the theory on host Tom Bergeron. "Just a few weeks ago, ABC PR stopped Tom Bergeron from doing a live webcast with an outlet they didn't approve of. I can only imagine is going on right now after Hef's tweet," the source added.

Karina's issue of Playboy would be out later this month, possibly while she's still dancing on the show with surprise favorite Ralph Macchio. Rep of the pro dancer and ABC are yet to comment on the report. But it's not likely that ABC will give Karina a harsh treatment because this season is featuring another woman who has posed for Playboy, Kendra Wilkinson.

Credit: ACE Showbiz

Memory Lane - Fashion Designers in Colour Part 3

This is the third and concluding part of our look back at the early fashion designers of colour.

Elizabeth Keckley achieved prominence and notoriety as modiste to Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of US President, Abraham Lincoln in the 1860s. 

Francis Criss designed clothes for Hollywood star and fashion icon Gloria Swanson. While Ann Lowe is most famous for the wedding dress of Jacqueline Bouvier when she married future US President, John F Kennedy.

Zelda Wynn Valdes was the first African-American to open her own shop in Broadway in New York in 1948. She was known for her sexy hip-hugging styles and numbered among her clientele many of the notable black women of that era including Dorothy Dandridge, Josephine Baker, Marian Anderson, Ella Fitzgerald and Gladys Knight.

Dorothy Dandridge in a trademark Zelda Wynn dress

Wynn started out by cutting her patterns out of newsprint, studying her grandmother’s seamstress and working in her uncle’s tailoring shop.

Her work even caught the eye of Hugh Hefner and she went on to design the original costumes for the Playboy bunnies.

Joyce Bryant

She also helped found the National Association of Fashion and Accessory Designers, an organisation of black designers.

Valdes continued working until her retirement in 2000. She passed away the following year.

Now for a slight twist on the history of the fashion designers in colour, we’ll look at Paco Rabanne, the first fashion designer to use black models in a catwalk show. As a result, he was almost thrown out of the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, the governing body of Parisienne fashion.

Paco Rabanne fasion show and Donyale Luna wearing Paco Rabanne

The Spain-born designer made a name for himself in the 1960s with his space-age inspired fashions.

Khloe Kardashian Taking A Break From Twitter

After negative comments and jokes about Khloe Kardashian and her husband, Lamar Odom, began trending on Twitter on Wednesday, the E! star said she's had enough.

"The negativity that I see, hear, or read today is out of control," Kardashian Tweeted Wednesday morning. "I'm signing off Twitter for a little so I can remain my positive self."

While the 26-year-old star didn't specify what exactly caused her to go Twitter-silent, one possible cause could be Odom's interview with Playboy magazine where he said, "I was kind of surprised at how intelligent she was," and also, "When people see us in person, they see Khloe's not small. I'm not small."

Credit: Us Magazine

Lamar: I Was Surprised By Khloe's Intelligence

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian are madly in love -- but when the L.A. Laker first met the reality star in 2009, he admits he had some doubts about her IQ.

"I was kind of surprised at how intelligent she was," Odom, 31, tells Playboy's February issue. "You don't know what to expect. Next thing I know I'm spending every day with her. We just hit it off."

The couple famously tied the knot in September 2009 after 32 days of courtship -- and the Queens, New York native says he's been a changed man ever since. Once afraid to commit to just one woman, the Khloe and Lamar star says he's happy to take on the responsibility that comes with being a married man.

"With her I was like, 'If I do what I normally do, I'm going to lose her,'" Odom reasons. "'And if I lose her, I think it's going to hurt a lot.' Right then and there I knew. We were together every day."

Of course, spending time with Kardashian, 26, also meant hanging out with her famous family.

"They're a really strong family and fun to be around. I'm perfect for that. I come from a big family," Odom says. "I've always been on a team. I understand. The circus is what makes it tick and keeps it going."

Though they're happy to share their lives with millions of E! viewers, Odom insists there's one thing that's off-limits on their new reality show: alone time in the bedroom!

"When people see us in person, they see Khloe's not small. I'm not small. People see us and are probably like, 'Damn, I wonder how that looks,'" he says, adding that he wouldn't be embarrassed if a sex tape were to leak online. "We wouldn't have anything to be ashamed about, but no, that's not going down."

Credit: Us Magazine

Holly Madison Will Drop Pounds for 'Peepshow'

Holly Madison caused a few jaws to drop last week when she revealed that the producers of her Las Vegas burlesque “Peep Show” had ordered her to shed weight from her already super-svelte frame.

"I always thought I looked fine. It was a shock when they told me to lose weight. I've lost a few pounds," Madison, who appears topless in the show, told Radar Online, adding that she wasn’t sure if she wanted to push herself any harder and oblige in popping the pounds.

“This is definitely the first time I've been confronted with a weight issue,” Madison said. “Because I'm so busy, it's a challenge to lose the weight, but I'm trying hard!”

And while she told us after leaving her life at Hugh Hefner’s famed mansion a couple of years ago that she was “over the nudity thing” and didn’t anticipate she would bare her body for any more spreads, it seems her fellow “Girl Next Door” Kendra Wilkinson’s recent Playboy cover may have inspired a change-of-heart.

“I wouldn’t mind doing Playboy again,” Madison continued. “But only if I had creative control.”

Speaking of creative control, the starlet is getting ready to premiere season two of her hit E! reality series “Holly’s World,” in which she is also credited as co-producer.

“This season is really dramatic and holds a lot of character development for everyone on the show,” she hinted. “Troublemakers come to town, so there's a lot of conflict.”

The glamour model also controversially hit the headlines last week when she revealed her disappointment that former flame Hefner was engaged to 24-year-old Crystal Harris, as she felt “he could do better.”

Credit: Fox News